Bystanders, Deputy Save Woman from Burning Trailer

A woman trapped in the back bedroom of a mobile home that was on firewas rescued by bystanders and the responding deputy Monday afternoon.

The York County Emergency Communications Center received a report of a structure fire in Harwood’s Mill Trailer Park off George Washington Memorial Highway around 1:11 p.m. Following protocol, a York-Poquoson Sheriff’s Office deputy on patrol responded to the blaze before fire units arrived, said Lt. Dennis Ivey, a YPSO spokesperson.

The deputy and a group of bystanders, including an off-duty lieutenant with the Williamsburg Fire Department, learned a woman was trapped in the back bedroom of the trailer prior to fire units arriving, according to a YPSO Facebook post.

Because of the fire and smoke conditions inside the mobile home, the deputy and bystanders began to pull off the siding, insulation and interior paneling from the home and found the woman in bed against that wall, the post said. They were able to pull the woman through the opening they created and began CPR.

When the fire units arrived within four minutes of the initial call, the mobile homewas fully engulfed in fire.

First-responders with the York County Department of Life and Safety began treating the woman, who was in cardiac arrest. She was taken to Riverside Regional Medical Center, then airlifted to Sentara Norfolk General Hospital, where she is in stable condition.

Another woman, who was able to get out of the home on her own, was taken to the hospital to be treated for smoke inhalation and is expected to recover.

The deputy also suffered minor smoke-related injuries and was taken to the hospital; she has since been discharged, Ivey said. Some of the bystanders suffered minor injuries that were treated at the scene.

“This unfortunate situation shows how our community and emergency responders came together to make a difference in the lives of fellow citizens,” the YPSO post reads. “We are very fortunate to provide the services that we do to such a caring community.”